Down to Earth Creations

Tiny Boxes to Organize Tiny Things

2011-08-30T15:54:00.023-04:00

I finally got organized with these little boxes. They fold up really quickly, and I include the template below. I love these cuz I can move them around for different projects, and to put the beads away at the end of the season all I have to do is just tip them into a baggie.

You can print the template larger or smaller to make different sizes of boxes, and as well print it *just slightly larger* to make box tops. You can also redraw everything but the center fatter to make a taller box.

Directions: Once you've folded along all the lines, cut as directed to create two longer flaps and two shorter ones. Fold over one longer flap as you see here to create a box side wall, allowing the next crease to fold under so the triangle lies on the floor of the box. Repeat on other long side. Fold in long bits on the sides to create inner side walls of the other two sides. These will not stay put until you fold over the two short sides over them. When you are done the box will have all four points in the middle of the bottom. Enjoy! This photo is from Etsian saguirl, from a video that's no longer on the site.

Passover!

2010-03-02T16:50:00.003-05:00

Here is a Star of David for Passover. You like? Buy it from my Etsy shop! Only $18.00.

Backyard Beads ~ Look at These!

2010-03-02T16:29:00.007-05:00

Check it out! Doreen of Backyard Beads has opened her Etsy shop ~ finally! ~ her friends just bugged her to death to make these fabulous Polymer clay beads available for their designs and she finally gave in. To celebrate, she's doing a GIVEAWAY of these lovely beads. No, she can't give them away to anyone but ME!!! Go see her Etsy shop and visit her blog and maybe you can snatch them from my grasp.

How to Make Beadwoven Stars of David

2009-11-01T13:31:00.017-05:00

As you may see from previous posts, for the last 3 months I have been working on variations of beadwoven Stars of David, all based on Gwen Fisher's "Archimedes Star Bracelet" from the Fall Beadwork.

What I'm going to demonstrate for you today is an easy version that makes the GREATEST earrings. Here's a pair I have in my Etsy shop, "Prophecy." Start making some and let me know what you come up with!

Okay, so here are the supplies:
2 tubes of Size 11 Miyuki or Toho seed beads, a base color (A) and an accent color (B)
1 Nymo Size B beading spool of thread in a corresponding color
1 pack of beading needles
1 piece of wax
scissors

NOTE: Miyuki and Toho are the best for these, because they are uniform and have large holes, perfect for multiple thread passes. You can use normal Size 11s, as I have in this demo, but you may have trouble fitting the thread through more than once and a bead may break if the hole is too small. "Prophecy" is made with Miyuki, while the demo below is made with plain ole Size 11s.

Thread the needle, wax well and thread on 18 beads in base color A.

Insert your needle at the beginning again and pull through a second time, making a circle with your thread.

Tie a square knot (left over right, right over left) securely.

Go through a couple of beads and pull just a little - you want the knot to go into a bead and disappear, but not so tightly that you can't get through the bead again.

Pick up 5 beads, 2 in accent color B, 1 in base color A, 2 more in accent color B. Skip 2 beads in the circle, and sew through the 3rd circle bead, making a loop.

Repeat all around the circle, making a total of 6 loops.

Make a second knot, and go through a couple more beads, tug tight.

Go through the first loop again, but only go through the accent color Bs, skipping the base color A one altogether. Continue around following your previous path, skipping the A beads in the loops, tug and see your loops go from roundish to pointy. Repeat with the other 6 loops.

Knot the threads again, go thru a couple more beads, tug tight, and trim.

You can then open a jump ring and put it in the top bead, to hang onto earwires, chain, leather or a beaded strand. It's up to you!

Try this with different kinds of beads or crystals, vary the colors, use tubes instead of the B accent beads, let me see what you make! You can also join the stars together for bracelets, kippahs, necklace assemblies, pendants. I would think the sky is the limit!

I Created an Etsy Treasury

2009-09-25T12:18:00.003-04:00

It is full of the amazing handmade items from my brothers and sisters at Team EtsyChai. There's so much energy in the New Year!

Diane Fitzgerald Triangles

2009-09-18T10:25:00.003-04:00

Okay, guys ~ This fall I seem mesmerized by seed bead Stars of David. This will be my third pattern, from a wonderful book by Diane Fitzgerald entitled "Shaped Beadwork." She insists you start with simple 2D shapes, and so I have followed directions to do her first project, a simple triangle. I got ambitious after that and linked them together to make these.

The Finished Kipoh and Some Other Iterations!

2009-09-05T23:19:00.013-04:00

So, this is how it came out. I also have done them in white/gold, teal/brown, and light pink/hot pink. Cool, huh? I sew in a plastic comb that pretty much disappears into the hair and keeps the kipoh on.

I wondered, could I make some other things too? Like, for example, star earrings? I did both six and five point stars.

And this last, a different stitch for a necklace for my friend's daughter who just started 8th Grade at Jewish Day School.

I Runneth Out

2009-08-01T21:21:00.011-04:00

Darn, I've run out of "Sand and Sea" Mix from Twisted Sistah. So, while I am waiting for Leslie to send me more, here you go with the same idea worked up in my very first seed bead purchase, some tiny (size 15?) frosted variegated beads in fuscia/purple colors. In these pictures you can see how I am thinking about it. Obviously a kipoh needs to curve a little to fit the head, so I am dreaming about loops, picots? We'll see when I get to it. This construction is about 2 inches in diameter. Well the first three stars are around 1 inch, when I got it built out a bit it is about 2 inches.

How did I get into Beadweaving? If you said "because you're not a pit bull," you'd be right! I wear lipstick and I'm a soccer Mom! Above see a tiny purse-sized beading kit in a Chinese small-item container. This is 4" in diameter and about 1-1/2" high. It has my current project and all the supplies for it, and is perfect to take out to the soccer field with a water bottle and a beach chair.

Seed Bead Kipoh

2009-07-31T22:07:00.006-04:00

It's been a year, and I've been through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. My prognosis is good. I've grown my hair back and regained most of my energy. And, minus one boob, look pretty cute if I may say so myself.

Beading kept me feeling optimistic through this whole process even when I wasn't doing it. Things sat on my bead table, patiently awaiting time when I was able to return. If you've been over to my Etsy shop (link at right->), you've seen some of the new stuff I've been selling.

I want to focus over here on PROCESS, because it's so interesting. Also, when I see all the things my fellow artists have created, I always go WOW, how on earth did she make that? I also imagine her process as immediate, sort of she had an idea, and POOF, the piece is sitting there. Or, that the piece was conceived in her imagination, and in a linear, step-by-step process the piece was made to fit her idea.

Well ~ I'm not at all like this. I am currently working on a new idea for a kipoh. This is a little cap made for a Jewish woman to wear while praying. The traditional men's cap may be black or colorful, but the modern Jewish kipoh for women is feminine, sparkly, lacey, full of beads or embroidery, in other words, it's a palette for creativity! I've been struggling with colored wire kipot, because the beads don't fit through the wire very well for me, and also the color tends to chip off the wire. I prefer Artistic Wire - this is wire with a vinyl coating and has a very nice feel. But I know some artists who just beat the pants off me with the wire kipoh concept, and I'm ready to try something else.

Okay, enter Beadwork's Fall 08 issue. Lo and behold Gwen Fisher has an Archimedes' Star bracelet that to me, a Jewish girl, looks like interlocking stars of david in a strip. I'm thinking I've gotta try this in the round, one star and then the others circling it, in essence, a kipoh.

First I tried it with pearls, because Gwen's directions call for two sizes of seed beads and of course while I have a whole box of seed beads I don't have the right sizes in harmonious colors (!!!) Pearls of course have small holes and don't tolerate multiple pass throughs. (One day I'll talk here about my ladder stitch peas bracelet and how to make this over, what a disaster.)

I have these amazing beads from Leslie at Twisted Sistah Beads (see link at right->), who I first met at the Bead Expo in Allentown's Fairgrounds two years ago. She has put together these Miyuki bead mixes - well, she has either mixed them or got them as mixes - in size 10 triangles - woo ee! So I put together two of the colors (well, really three, if you can see the subtle shading) from Sea and Sand Mix in Gwen's pattern and here is where I am so far ~

Origami Star of David

2008-06-18T21:56:00.028-04:00

Josh and Anna showed us how to make these origami Jewish stars at our Shavuot study a couple weeks ago. They're not hard to make, and very pretty! Try them with origami paper with a different color on each side. Whatever color the little diamonds that are folded up into triangles are is the color they will be in the end, while the other color will be the background of that part of the star. Josh says he thinks they were originally a Christmas project, so whatever your faith, make them and enjoy!

Cut two equilateral triangles out of paper.

Take one of the triangles and fold it in half. Unfold it. Fold it in half another way. Unfold it. Note the center point made by all your fold lines.

Fold one side up to the center point created by all your folds. This sort of looks like a hat. Unfold it. Fold another side to the center point and unfold that. Fold the third side, unfold it and lay your triangle out flat. Now it kind of looks like an ashtray, or a hamantashen dough, no?

Notice there is a diamond shape in each corner. (I outlined the shapes in black to make it look clearer to you.)

Fold one diamond in half to make a triangle.

Fold the other two diamonds in half.

Turn the triangle over. Fold one side up to the crease.

Fold the other two sides up.

Pull one corner up and overlap it so that each side has one end under and one over.

You want the corners overlapping like this.

Fold one point to the center. If you did this correctly, you will see a diamond on the tip of that point.

Fold the other two points to the center. You now have a hexagon shape.

Turn the hexagon over. Look closely and you will see three sides have a crease parallel to their edges. (I outlined the shapes in black to make it look clearer to you.)

Fold any creased side to the center.

Fold the other two creased sides to the center.

Overlap the flaps.

Here's the first finished triangle.

Create another triangle just like the first.

Slide the two triangles together.

The star now looks like this.

Pull the corner up and over.

Your finished star! How pretty! I punch a small hole at the top and hang with some fun wire.

Creative Minds for Charity Challenge

2008-04-24T00:26:00.012-04:00

Here's my final contribution to a very special and worthy project. It's called the Creative Minds for Charity Challenge, and it's a collaboration between three Etsy Street Teams.

Artists from etsyBEAD were paired up with the glass artists from Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE). Each glass artist sent a glass creation to a bead artist to make into a beaded jewelry piece. The final creations were sent to the Helping Others Street Team (HOST), and you can see them all at HOST's etsy shop, link at right.

This glass pendant layered with delicate shades of purple is from glass artist LaWatha. I hung it on a wiggly loop of sterling silver flattened and textured by my chasing hammer. I love the way the silver "facets" sparkle inside the glass. I then strung the pendant on a two-strand necklace of freshwater pearls and Czech glass crystals.

The necklace is 22 inches long; the earrings are two-inches from top of earwire to bottom of earring.

I named it "Fresh Blossoms."

Like the necklace set? It will be available in the HOST store, and all of the proceeds will be used to assist fellow Etsy members in need. Go to Fresh Blossoms at right to buy it!

Two Strands

2008-04-16T20:11:00.007-04:00

Here's my final necklace. I love the hand-formed and textured silver wiggly inside the pendant and the curves and textures of the clasp. Left over from experiments for this project are quite a few roundish-squarish-ovalish rings I'm going to make into a project all on their own. I'm in love with 18 gauge sterling silver dead soft round wire and my chasing hammer!

This necklace turned into a long one at 22 inches. It will hang nearly 24 inches including the pendant.

The pendant is hand-formed glass by Lawatha ~ find the link to her shop at right. It is amazing and I think this closeup shows you what I mean!

Lavender Loveliness

2008-04-15T09:23:00.005-04:00

This is my first go, a one-strand necklace.

Here we are with two strands. I think this is the right visual weight for pearls versus pendant, but I miss the dark purple rondelles in version one.

Here's three strands ~ I'm trying for luscious but I don't think I've done it. Just a bit much. I do like how the rings kind of mimic the round-ish shapes of the pearls and the silver squiggle within the interior of the pendant.

Here it is, closer. I think the rings deserve center stage on their own. They're a bit much here. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently?

I am hoping my etsyBEAD sisters will come here and weigh in!!!

Frustration!!!

2008-04-01T00:12:00.007-04:00

Frustration!!! is these terrific pieces, and since they are commissions, I can't post them up to my Etsy shop. They are one of a kind. The Lucky Eye necklace, above, is for my son's Pre-Kindergarten teacher, who's an Israeli gal with a Middle Eastern background. She believes in the magic of evil eyes! It's not quite done ~ I want the focal part to measure 7" so it can be a bracelet if she wants, and the other part 14" so it can be part of this necklace or a choker by itself.

The piece below is an adaptation of Penny Acosta's lovely chaine maille design from the April 2007 Bead & Button magazine. This I wouldn't sell unless I checked with Penny first!

Purple Delight, Etc.

2008-03-21T19:59:00.008-04:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

I'm working with Lawatha (see link at right), an extremely talented glass artist from the Etsy Glass Guild, to create a piece in celebration of Spring. This amazing purple glass pendant is accented by freshwater pearls and purple crystal rondelles.

It's in process ~ I think I'm adding two more strands of pearls.

Okay, I might call this "Elegance." My girlfriend Andrea picked out the laquered black squares with the painted leaves. I contributed the freshwater pearls in gold and the glass leaf shapes.

I'm asking my Beading Group if I should apply a laquer or polyurethane coating to the surface of each leaf to ensure the paint doesn't flake off. I'll let you know what they say.

Ashly Forever Bracelets

2008-03-05T20:08:00.005-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry,with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Here are my "Ashly Forever" PMC bracelet focal pieces, drying on a coffee cup so they will be rounded for wrists. I kept them simple so that my friend Candy can use her chasing hammer to add texture to the surfaces all over. She does this so beautifully. Then we'll use leather and some silver beads and a clasp for each to make a matching set of bracelets for Ashly's Dad, Michael, and his sweetheart, my friend Peggy Sue.

Read all about Ashly several posts below.

Make My Day!

2008-02-28T12:46:00.008-05:00

Candace, my beading buddy and fellow townie, has put me on her Make My Day List. This is a list of links to those who have really inspired me lately. Oh, I know who I have to put!!! The following ladies are not just inspirational but I know them in real life because they live near me or from etsyBead activities. Ladies, I just drink in your creativity! I love what I am doing with beads, but I also love what you do, that I could never do, because you've taken a different direction into uncharted territories where I cannot follow!

How to send a You Make My Day award:
1. Write a post with links to five blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the 'You Make My Day Award' logo.
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

Candy - because of her totally unique leafy tendril earrings AND OMG!!! Look at these amazing Tribal Spirit earrings!!! Candy is the Queen of beautifully antiqued and forged sterling silver.

Augusta - look at this lovely handworked sterling filigree, I am in awe!

Deb - my mentor from etsyBead Street Team, who makes lovely concoctions from Hong Kong, halfway across the world! Deb has an unexpected and freshly lovely color sense I treasure and that inspires me!

Lucia - who I found through Etsy Local, and who lives just a couple minutes away from me in Allentown. She creates elegant, juicy, lovely pieces with vintage style and impeccable detail. I love her bright colors and the way she combines them.

Lawatha - with whom I'm collaborating as part of an etsyBead/Glass Artists campaign. I'm having a TERRIBLE time selecting one of Lawatha's glorious pendants to create a beaded necklace - they're all so beautiful!

Wrapping my Mind in Color Trends

2008-02-27T13:56:00.014-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry,with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

So I'm trying to figure out what color schemes stand out this Spring. Of course this was decided long ago - 24 months ago most likely - by the Power Deciders at WWD, Style Magazine, Pantone, Vogue et al. So I poked around the internet a bit and snagged some palettes and photos from the fashion world to help me understand what's behind the interesting color combinations I'm seeing. Follows some of my visual notes ...

Collaboration

2008-02-26T14:32:00.013-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry,with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

The etsyBead Street Team and the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy are sponsoring a collaboration where a glass artist contributes a glass piece and an etsyBEADer creates a beaded piece with that glass piece. All final pieces are being donated to charity. I'm working with Lawatha, who creates amazing lampwork glass pendants and pins. Here I'm matching some of the stuff in my bead stash to some of her focal pendants. She'll come over here and let me know which of these combos she prefers.

Homemade Light Box: Refined!

2008-02-23T12:15:00.010-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry,with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

OK, here's my new improved light box. I designed it specifically to help me take good photos of my pieces with glass that seem dull photographed the ordinary way.

As noted in the previous post, the sides are cut from Wondermat tiles (see Resources on right - you get 4 tiles for $7.00) although in this version in addition to cutting a 9-inch square out of each center, I've also cut the groovies off one edge of each tile. This allows the light box to be bottomless, so it can sit on my rippled glass patio table and I can take advantage of reflected light from below. Note: The diffuser inserts are cut from translucent notebook covers.

This model also has only two sides instead of three, because I've found I don't need a back, really. Especially since my patio table is round. Because of this, it's sensible to have the light box footprint to be in the shape of a pizza slice. If this makes sense!

Sometimes I want a panel on the top of the box, sometimes I don't. (If I shoot a top view, no panel. If a shot from the front, then a panel on top with a light shining in through there.) I want this top panel to just sit on top so it's easy to remove as I'm taking photos. Therefore the little triangle half-frame as a shelf and to give the box added stability.

Voila! Now how do I use this? I've been using two lights but I really need three - one to shine from each side and one to shine through the top. I'm using the natural spectrum lamps I also use to light up my work table. I'll see if I can find another lamp on sale somewhere. You can use any lamps as long as they are all the same kind of bulb (tungsten, fluorescent, halogen or "natural spectrum").

I also use a stool or tray that sits below the patio table 6 or 9 inches below its surface. On top of the stool I can put any kind of pretty paper that complements my jewelry. The light shines through the top of the table and reflects back with a kind of pretty, watery, colorful effect, and shines through my glass beads a bit from underneath. If you try this, practice with the lights so you don't get glare shining off the surface of the glass. Just move them around until you get the jewelry and the reflections just right.

Go ahead, give this kind of thing a try! It works the best with all silver jewelry and with glass that needs a bit of a light boost or looks dull on regular white paper.

Ashly Forever

2008-02-20T11:43:00.007-05:00

Nearly one year ago, on March 3, 2007, Army Sergeant Ashly Lynn Moyer was blown up by an I.E.D. in Baghdad, Iraq. This brave young girl was the best friend and stepdaughter of my buddy Peggy Sue. I didn't know her well, but met her on several occasions and was touched by her poise, energy and spark. Our entire community mourned the loss of this special young person and each of us has been moved to contribute to a memorial in her honor that is being erected at the middle school she attended.

Anniversaries are so hard! So to make it go easier for Ashly's family and friends, and in honor of her courage and spirit, I've begun to make a bracelet that will feature an oval focal piece in precious metal clay that says "Ashly Forever." PMC is not coming easily to me, but here's my nth attempt, is it somewhat successful? I'm going to string it on leather and include some wide-hold tube beads in sterling silver - once it's fired will start experimenting. There will be two bracelets - one for Michael, Ashly's father, and one for Peggy Sue.

These four versions of a focal element you see here are my original, on the bottom, and then my photoshopped improvements with and without stars in ascending order, with the "best" version at the top. Probably I should have wrapped the wet piece in plastic wrap because now I'd like to start over and do something completely different!!! However, I believe with precious metal clay you can just pulverize the dry thing with a hammer and mix with water to return it to its clay condition.

This is about $6.00 worth of clay and it is about 2-1/2 inches long. PMC shrinks about 30% in firing so it will be about 2" in the end.

Homemade Light Box

2008-02-13T22:13:00.005-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

I've been doing more photography than beading lately! This is my homemade lightbox setup based on what I've learned from Etsy's Storque articles and a great site (just do a search on EZ Cube - this is a terrific product they sell and as well they have articles on photography).

First thing with photography: you need to diffuse the light. That's why a light box. Mine is created with Wondermat tiles with squares cut out to hold the translucent inserts. I made the inserts by cutting squares from plastic notebook covers from the Staples Store. The squares are exactly the same size as the holes in the Wondermat and they just sit there, no gluing or taping required.

I'm using three lights, and two are those natural spectrum ones, although with the third I've cheated and have an incandescent light. Supposedly you can't get the light balance right unless you use all the same kind of light, all incandescent or all fluorescent or all natural spectrum.

Since some of my shots are from above I have the top sort of loose so I can diffuse but also get at an overhead shot.

I'm playing with scrapping paper for backgrounds and also under glass. Glass is tricky due to glare from the flash, but it's wonderful when you get it just right.

You MUST use a tripod to get sharp photos! The tripod is in the front.

Store-in-a-Box: Display

2008-02-12T14:48:00.001-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Here's my Baby Be Mine necklace/earrings set in a greeting card box with scrapping paper insert. You can see it in my Store-in-a-Box on top of Water Nymph. Each store/display box has its own paper insert color coordinated with the necklace it holds.

Here's the box all packed. And below you can see the display on a table. Nifty, huh?

Come back soon, I'll have pictures of the cart/portable table I'm using with this.

Sparkle Quest

2008-02-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

I have this really pretty Valentine's necklace - actually I have two of them, because I knew as soon as I made it that I wanted one for myself and one to sell. The hard part is capturing how sparkly the crystals are on this piece and how beautifully the dark pink seed beads complement the pale pink Swarovski crystals. Not to mention somehow conveying the way the silver disks are in constant movement against the silver balls.

Up until now I've been photographing my pieces against pastel-color scrapping paper, with a nice texture, and it's been great for most of my pieces. Below you see my PRESENT technique.

So ... since I really love MangoTango's technique of shooting against rippled glass, I tried a couple shots against my patio table with hot pink paper underneath (my EXPERIMENTAL technique). Now Miss Mango's stuff is mostly silver, and mine is silver and glass, so I don't know how successful it is for my jewelry. I mean, it's beautiful, but does it show the necklace well?

All I know is I really want stuff in my shop to POP. So it's a work in progress. Here are some of the other photos I took, compared with the photos presently in my shop. Which technique do you think is better?

Planned Chaos II

2008-01-26T12:37:00.001-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Okay, here is my BASIC BEAD BAG. I take this one when I go to visit my Bead Buddy. I also have this one on a little table next to my main bead table. The reason for the BASIC BEAD BAG is not having to pack findings, tools and staple beads every time you want to bead with a friend. I do have beads unique to projects in an accordion file and what I do is just lift the specific project out to take. But all the basics are in here. What do I have?

-TOOLS in large side pockets (small portable versions of ruler, pliers, bead savers, masking tape, color wheel, files, steel wool, jig)
-COMPONENTS in small side pockets (beading wire, tiny swarovski crystals, seed beads, silk & leather stringing)
-STAPLES in stacking containers in middle (sterling tubes, spacers, rondelles, findings; swarovski crystals and basic seed beads)
-CLASPS in small containers with aqua lids (one has toggle clasps, the other lobsters and other kinds)
-STERLING WIRE (colorful CD cases-I can't emphasise how terrific these are for controlling coils of wire!!! One color for each guage)

No system is perfect. I have headpins in with the tools in one big pocket.I also have along the side a price sheet, a bead mat cut to fit, and other doodads.

Ok, I don't take this when I'm ferrying my son around to activities in the car. For that, I have a bead project in a smaller bag. I'll talk about that next time.

My Bead Buddy

2007-12-28T00:49:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Oh, it's great to have a beading buddy! Someone you can share inspiration and techniques with, lean on and moan to. Someone who can urge you to take the next step and then when you get stuck, push on your butt to get you up there.

My beading buddy is CGailDesigns, and you can visit her Etsy store to meet her and see her wonderful work. She lives right down the street from me, and her daughter and my son have been in the same class at school since Kindergarten. Her focus is primarily on wirework, and you will see the top level craftsmanship and delicate esthetic in her designs. She uses semi-precious stones to enhance the silver work.

I had to buy this piece with its lovely amazonite rondelles and beautifully antiqued sterling silver beads and spacers. The small beads around the one side are vintage steel nuggets from France, and they are lovely even if I did wear the bracelet so much that it ended up in the washer one day and got a wash and dry.

You're not supposed to launder your fine jewelry or even shower in it, but you can see the piece is no worse for wear!

Oh, my dear beading buddy, you inspire me!

Teacher Gifts

2007-12-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

I made this book thong for my son's 4th Grade teacher.

You can see I've put a lucky eyeball on there, as well as a reindeer charm in honor of the season. This is very similar to my Eye-Popping Keychain, except all the metals are sterling silver instead of pewter. Maybe I've got a series going here?

Resources: Lucky eyeball from Fire Mountain Gems, Bali silver spacers from Artbeads.com, square white and yellow tube bone beads and sterling reindeer charm from All About Beads, Christmas beads from a local bead show, and 1mm waxed cord from a necklace in my drawer. See right for resource links.

For my son's science teacher, I made these Christmas themed earrings with frosty Czech leaves.

Resources: Frosted cubes in green, light green and red from All About Beads, frosted leaves from Michael's Crafts, sterling silver balls from Artbeads.com. See right for resource links.

Pop Goes the Blueberry

2007-12-21T01:33:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Okay, about Etsy. This is a site where you can buy wonderful handmade things by artists all over the world. You can take a look by clicking on my link at right under Resources. I found out about Etsy through my beading buddy, Candy, who sells her wire jewelry in her Etsy shop. Since it only costs 20 cents to list an item, and the only commission is Paypal's, it's a great deal for artists. It's also wonderful for buyers as well, because there are the most amazing and lovely items for sale. You will never visit retail again, it's that good.

This is my first purchase, from Julie Persons. It's called "Pop Goes The Blueberry" and it's a needle-felted wool pin. You can visit Julie's Etsy shop via my links in Resources at right.

I thought you knitted with wool. Julie wets the wool and shapes it into wall hangings, pendants, bowls, and pins. I'm considering a birdy next ...

The Handmade Pledge

2007-12-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Not to mention creative inspiration! Click on the images to enlarge.

Okay ... I did it ... I took the pledge. No more Walmart. But with Etsy, who needs Walmart? I can shop from the ease of my office chair, here at home, in my pajamas. I can talk to the craftsfolk on the Etsy chats and convo them after the sale with photos of me wearing their stuff.

Of course, I have an Etsy shop, too. That's how this all got started. But I sure hope I sell more than I buy. Yikes, it's too easy to find AMAZING things on Etsy.

Go see Etsy for yourself. The link is over on the right in Resources.

Saving Silver Wire #3 - Final Assembly

2007-12-19T10:08:00.001-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Click on the images to enlarge.

This is the third part of a series that focuses on working right from a coil of round sterling silver wire to avoid waste and measuring pieces of wire. Here I'm just finishing my assembly of the earrings, and using simple beading techniques, nothing fancy.

Part 3. Assembly of the Final Piece

Here are the parts of my earrings. (Yes, there's an extra black crystal in this demo, because I decided the earrings were too long and redid them with only one black crystal. You can make them either way.)

Hold the earring wire in one hand or flat nose pliers and bend the end of the loop carefully towards you to open the loop. Place the bead unit over the loop and close.

Open a loop on the bead unit the same way, and place the pine cone charm on and close.

All done! That was easy! Here is the final set. I love it!

To see the completed project, come to my Etsy shop. There's a link at right in Resources.

Saving Silver Wire #2 - The Ear Wire

2007-12-18T12:37:00.002-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Click on the images to enlarge.

Now that silver has gotten so expensive, we want to save as much silver wire as possible, don't we? I've developed a few techniques to save my wire – I often work right off the roll of wire. This way I don't waste ANY wire at all and there are no odd lengths of wire to throw away. Here's how I do it on a recent earring project that involves a pine cone charm, a bead unit and a handmade ear wire.

There are three parts to this project. Last post I did Part 1 (The Bead Unit). Here's Part 2 (The Ear Wire). Come back for Part 3 (Putting it Together). I'm using 20 guage round sterling silver wire.

Part 2. THE EAR WIRE
Yes, folks, I use a jig for this. I know some of you think only amateurs use a jig, but I use one whenever it is convenient. Actually, this is the only thing I use the jig for, because it makes all my earring wires come out the same. And it's dead easy.

First, I hold the wire coil in my left hand and flush cut the very end.

Then I grab the very end of the wire with my round nose pliers one-third of the way up.

I roll around to make a loop.

Here's the loop.

I fit that loop right on the small peg of the jig.

I wrap that wire right around the fat peg as you can see here.

I pass the wire between the fat peg and the other small peg and pull a tad to curve the end.

I then flush cut the end of this wire.

I repeat these last couple of steps to make a second earring wire, right over the first one. This way they turn out the same size.

I flush cut the second end so it is the same as the first.

Voila a matching set of earring wires!

You can pinch the shape in a bit if you want.

Don't forget to file the ends a tad for comfort.

My last step is to put each wire on the bench block and tap lightly with my ball peen hammer to harden the wire a bit.

Here they are, nice, huh?

Saving Silver Wire #1 - The Bead Unit

2007-12-15T21:34:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Click on the images to enlarge.

Now that silver has gotten so expensive, we want to save as much silver wire as possible, don't we? I've developed a few techniques to save my wire – I often work right off the roll of wire. This way I don't waste ANY wire at all and there are no odd lengths of wire to throw away. Here's how I do it on a recent earring project that involves a pine cone charm, a bead unit and a handmade ear wire.

There are three parts to this project. Here's Part 1 (The Bead Unit) – come back for Part 2 (The Ear Wire) and Part 3 (Putting it Together). I'm using 20 guage round sterling silver wire.

Part 1. THE BEAD UNIT

I hold the roll of wire in my left hand like this and work from the end.

2. I flush cut a tiny end off the wire so it will be nice and even.

I slide the beads onto the wire.

Next, I grab the very tip of the wire with the round-nose pliers, a third of the way up, and roll the wire around, making a loop. I bend the wire a little bit at the base, so the loop is centered like a lollipop on a stick.

I go to the other end of the beads I have stacked and hold the wire in the round nose pliers, again a third of the way up.

I then make the second loop. I center that loop and then flush cut the end.

I wiggle both wire ends back and forth a bit until the loops are completely closed.

I place the bead unit on my steel bench block and tap very lightly on each loop with my ball peen hammer to harden the wire.

Here's the finished bead unit.

Planned Chaos #1

2007-12-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Click on the image to enlarge.

Here is my bead table. I do all my work on a space roughly 5 feet by 3 feet, and believe it or not, it works. (This is because I already have an office for my web design business and the bead table must be relegated to a corner of that!)

It's sort of a mess, but that's the way beading is. You'll never see some of the most amazing combinations unless you mix up the beads a little. That said, you have to have some idea of where everything is stored, or you'll go mad.

I have a tool rack (salt/pepper/napkin caddy) to the left, out of the picture, but I do try to keep the tools I'm working with to the right, as I'm right-handed. That way I know they're there.

I have melamine containers and silicone mini-cupcake cups (you can see an orange one holding my wire scraps at the right) to catch odds and ends – at the end of the session most of this stuff ends up returned to the craft bins along the back of my table.

My most ingenious find was these colorful CD trays and they're great for controlling your wire. I was going bonkers trying to use plastic bags, because the wire kept poking out. Even if you're in a hurry, you can just sort of coil it up and shut the lid quick!

For some reason, it works for me that the steel bench block just sits in the lower left of the tray. Dunno why. But I've gotten used to it there.

I really love having a tray on the table. That way, if I want to bead while watching TV, or watching TV in the kitchen, or sitting with a bead buddy (CGail Designs) at the dining room table, I can take the project there.

What is that shelf, you ask? In the back sits an adjustable bathroom shelf I originally got for the bathroom sink which has a very small vanity. It didn't fit there, so it finally ended up here, holding some of my bead bins. It's nice not to have to take down a whole pile of bins to get at one on the bottom.

Come back for Planned Chaos II, and I'll show you my Ongoing Projects Box and my Take Along Bags.

To see my completed pieces, visit my Web Site or my Etsy Shop.

Eye-popping Keychains

2007-12-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

This blog records my process of creating art jewelry, with adventures, examples, and techniques! Click on the image to enlarge.

Okay, I've got all these terrific necklaces and things up on Etsy, and what does someone want? A keychain. So I go to my desk and whip out my leather pieces. Turns out these are 2mm in size, and all my bead holes are too small. So I string it up on a tough piece of Beadalon, pop on an evil eye bead, a key chain ring, a small pewter dreidel, and I'm done.

The evil eye bead and the pewter barrel bead are from Fire Mountain Gems, the yellow bone bead is from All About Beads, and the pewter dreidel is from Kosher Creative. There are links in Resources on right.